Multinational military exercise “Summer Shield XIV” is held from April 17 to April 30 in the Ādaži Military Base and its vicinity and improve combat support and integration at brigade and battalion level defence operations.

More than 1 200 soldiers from USA, Bulgaria, Estonia, Canada, Lithuania, the United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Romania, Slovakia, Germany and Latvia take part in the annual military exercise that gives troops an opportunity to engage in joint exercise in multinational setting.

This year’s “Summer Shield XIV” is designed to enhance broad range of combat support skills, including artillery, air defence, reconnaissance, defence against weapons of mass destruction, combat engineers and anti-tank capabilities. Joint fire support front observers, close air support controllers, Medical Company and military logistics units will also be engaged in the exercise to build their capacity.

The first military exercise “Summer Shield” in Latvia was held in 2004. The initial objective was to prepare military units for coalition’s operations in Iraq.

Summer shield was included in the NATO Military Training and Exercise Programme in 2014 and is since open to soldiers of all member states of the alliance. More than 1 300 soldiers took part in last year’s exercise.